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Being that my fiancée loves Bald Eagles, I thought I would do a page on them for him! I am planning on adopting an eagle for him for Christmas too...
There are four major groups of eagles: fish eagles, booted eagles, snake eagles and giant forest eagles. America's eagles are the Bald Eagle, which is a fish eagle, and the Golden Eagle, which is a booted eagle. Golden and Bald Eagles both reside in the United States.
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucocephalus) is the only eagle species living strictly in North America. It is a fish eagle that has a presence in every state in the U.S.A. except Hawaii. The Bald Eagle can have a wing span of up to eight feet and can weigh up to 15 pounds. It inhabits areas near large bodies of water where there are plenty of fish to eat and tall trees in which to nest and roost. Bald Eagles are monogamous and remain faithful to their mate until death. Females lay one to three eggs annually in the spring time, and the incubation period is approximately 35 days.
Adult bald eagles have pure white feathers on their heads and tails and dark brown feathers covering the rest of their bodies. Young eagle are a mottled-brown color and do not attain adult plumage until their 4th or 5th year when they reach maturity. As in most raptor species, male eagles are smaller than females. Bald eagles prefer to eat fresh-caught fish up to a foot in length, but they will also feed on dying salmon, waterfowl, small mammals, and carrion (dead animals).
The bald eagle was chosen as the national emblem for the United States in 1782 and has been used as a symbol of valor throughout our nation's history. In the early 1900's, bald eagles were perceived as a threat to salmon populations. Between 1915 and 1951, bounties were paid on more than 100,000 eagles shot in Alaska. Even when the bald eagle was granted special protection in 1940, Alaskan eagles were excluded and bounties were continued until 1953. Illegal shooting still takes place in some remote areas.
Another threat to these eagles is the large-scale use of organochlorine insecticides, such as DDT that began in the early 1940's. The presence of these chemicals in the food chain killed some eagles and caused others to lay thin-shelled eggs, resulting in a sharp decline in the bald eagle population.
Numbers of bald eagles are currently increasing due to legal protection of the species, human appreciation, stricter environmental controls, and development of breeding and cross-fostering techniques by researchers and wildlife managers. Today, it is estimated that there are more than 110,000 eagles throughout North America, 100,000 of which are in Canada and Alaska.
Bald eagles are usually seen along coastal areas, lake districts, and major river systems. In the winter, they tend to congregate near unfrozen bodies of water, such as fast-running rivers, dam sites and power-plant outlets.
In the past several years, bald eagles have made a wonderful comeback from near extinction and were taken off of the endangered species list. While bald eagles are plentiful in Canada and Alaska, many of them are now nesting in urbanized environments where hazards from power lines, vehicles, and contaminants increase injury and mortality rates.
Adopting an individual eagle is a way to get involved and learn more about an entire species and the problems they have surviving in a human-dominated environment.
We have choose to adopt Othello for our eagle. Below is information about him. Picture of Othello is from The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.
STORY: Othello, an eight-year-old male, is thought to have broken his wings during one of his first flights from his nest in Michigan. Unable to fly well enough to be released, he spent his early years at The Raptor Center working with Mark Martell in field studies. Exceptionally comfortable around people, Othello is our most frequently used eagle for educational programs.
Eagle information obtained from my adoption kit from The Friends of the Forest.